As the use of computers has become increasing widespread in home and business environments alike, the need to interconnect such computers has also become important. For example, in a home environment, a user may wish to connect to a home network, such as a wireless network including for example one or more computers and perhaps one or more peripheral devices as well. Alternatively the user may wish to connect to a wide area network (WAN), such as the Internet. Similarly, in business contexts, users often need to use networks to communicate internally as well as to communicate externally, such as to customers, suppliers, etc. In any case, the user needs to initially configure a connection to the appropriate network, i.e., via the appropriate software and hardware.
However, the typical computer user, especially in the home environment but also in other environments, is not a computer expert. To such users, setting up a functioning network connection often requires skills or knowledge that they do not possess. The typical connection configuration process involves the use of a separate software entity sometimes referred to as a “wizard,” that guides the user through some basic aspects of the configuration. However, for unsophisticated users, this is not enough, and the configuration attempt fails. There are two primary causes of such failure. The first is that the user has attempted to connect using nonexistent networking hardware. For example, an Ethernet connection cannot be successfully established if the computer in question lacks the appropriate networking card. A secondary cause of failure is that appropriate hardware and network exist, but the user configures the connection incorrectly.
A system of user guidance is needed that solves these shortcomings and others inherent in prior systems of network connection configuration.